J-Power, partners offers $5.79 cent per kWh on C. Java power plant project

State electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has named a consortium comprising of two Japanese companies J-Power and Itochu, and PT Adaro Energy as the winner of the tender for the construction and operation of the Central Java coal-fired power plant.

J-Power consortium offered a price of 5.79 US cent per kWh for the electricity to be produced from the power plant which will be built in Pemalang, Central Java, outbidding several other big companies such as Marubeni Corporation, China Shenhua, Energy Company Ltd and the CNTIC-Guandong Yudean.

?We are quite happy because we got very low price in the tender. We earlier estimated the price will be about 6.5 US cent,? PLN president director Dahlan Iskan said.

Dahlan said that the power plant which would have a capacity of 2 x 1,000 megawatt was the first public private partnership (PPP) project that had been successfully auctioned. As part of the government?s program to speed up the infrastructure development, a PPP project will be guaranteed by the government.

Dahlan also described the Central Java power plant which is expected to begin commercial operation in 2017, as the largest ever power plant in the country in terms of generator's capacity.

?This is the first power plant to have a generator with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt. So far, the largest is 600 megawatt,? he added.

The project will be developed under independent power producer (IPP) and build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) schemes with PLN obliged to buy the power supplies under a 25-year power purchasing agreement (PPA). The project will cost about US$3.5 billion to build. (godang/giok)